Armed Forces: Housing

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of provision of  (a) service family accommodation and  (b) service single living accommodation for armed forces personnel in Scotland; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many and what percentage of  (a) service family accommodation and  (b) service single living accommodation properties in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland there were in each grade in each of the last five years.

Kevan Jones: UK service family accommodation was at the following standard for condition (SfC) in each of the last five years.
	
		
			   April 2004  April 2005  April 2006  April 2007  July 2008 
			   Properties  Percentage  Properties  Percentage  Properties  Percentage  Properties  Percentage  Properties  Percentage 
			 S1fC 25,276 50 26,426 53 28,796 57 29,691 59 28,354 59 
			 S2fC 22,215 44 20,774 41 18,950 38 17,918 36 17,414 36 
			 S3fC 3,083 6 2,792 6 239 5 2,165 5 2,098 4 
			 S4fC 146 [le]1 195 [le]1 159 [le]1 145 [le]1 109 1 
			 Total 50,720  50,187  50,214  49,911  47,975  
		
	
	Figures for Scotland across the last five years are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, as at March 2009, SFA in Scotland was at the following SfC:
	
		
			   Properties  Percentage 
			 S1fC 3,120 97 
			 S2fC 102 3 
			 S3fC 5 [le]1 
		
	
	In the past two years, single living accommodation, in the UK and Scotland was at the following grade, which is an assessment of the physical condition and scale of the accommodation, but excludes environmental and locational factors.
	
		
			   July 2007  March 2008 
			   UK  Scotland  UK  Scotland 
			   Bed-spaces  Percentage  Bed-spaces  Percentage  Bed-spaces  Percentage  Bed-spaces  Percentage 
			 Grade 1 35,388 26 2,553 32 34320 25 2,580 33 
			 Grade 2 17,398 13 1,576 20 19,180 14 1,560 20 
			 Grade 3 23,346 17 1,691 21 21,460 16 1,680 21 
			 Grade 4 62,212 44 2,128 27 62,460 45 2,010 26 
			 Total 138,344  7,948  137,420  7,830  
		
	
	Further information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Due to a legacy of decades of underinvestment, in Scotland and elsewhere, not all service accommodation is of the high standard that service personnel and their families deserve. We are addressing this and in addition to the significant investment in recent years, we plan to spend over £3 billion in the next decade to improve and upgrade accommodation worldwide.